Lemon Garbanzo Bean Pound Cake

**UPDATE**  I have changed the recipe slightly by removing the whipped egg whites.  I received a few emails about the pound cake falling after removing from oven and it seems the whipped whites + humidity was the problem.  Updated recipe is now reflected and you should get the same results as shown in my picture below every time you bake this tasty treat!

(Originally Posted on March 5, 2012)

I'm not leaving much mystery to the secret ingredient in this lovely light yet dense pound cake.  Garbanzo beans make up the bulk of the batter!  I originally designed this recipe for a friend of mine.  We share the same birthday, and this past January 29th, this was her birthday cake request.  She was trying to stay on the Advanced Plan while eliminating coconut, almond, chocolate, and cashew from her diet.  For a moment, I thought I had no idea what to make her!  But then I thought back to the recipe for Black Bean Brownies, and I know others have made cakes using beans and even veggies like cauliflower.  So using the brownies as a base recipe, I designed this garbanzo bean lemon cake and it was divine!  We topped ours with organic whipped cream sweetened with stevia and vanilla and large scoop of almond milk ice cream.  It would also be lovely on its own with a cup of tea.  You could also add poppy seeds if you wish.

Lemon Garbanzo Bean Pound Cake
Makes 1 9" Round

2  15oz cans garbanzo beans, drained and rinsed well
6 free-range eggs
1 1/4 cups powdered xylitol
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 tsp sea salt
zest of 2 lemons
juice of 2 lemons

1.)  Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.  Line the bottom of a round 9 inch spring form pan with unbleached parchment paper.  Grease the sides of pan with coconut oil.  Add garbanzo beans and eggs to food processor and puree until smooth, about 2 minutes.

2.)  Pulse in the xylitol, baking powder, baking soda, vanilla, sea salt, lemon zest and lemon juice, until batter is smooth

3.) Pour batter into spring form pan and bake about 45-55 minutes, until light brown on top and a knife comes out clean from the center.

In case you aren't already following our 40 Day Renewal through Lent, check out today's post.  It's a guest post from me!  Top 6 Reasons to Eat Breakfast

Easter Preperation

Who has their Easter menu all planned out?  And who doesn't?  (me!!)  I am still working on a few new recipes for our Easter brunch this year.  A little smaller than in years past, as it's just Dave, Austin and me.  We wish all of our family back home in Michigan, Wisconsin and Minnesota a happy and blessed Easter!

If you're at all like me this year and just getting to the details now, there is still time to have a Maximize Living-approved Easter celebration.  It just takes a little bit of planning.  You CAN pull it off, even on a budget!  I promise!

Check out my past posts on:

Natural Easter Egg Dying


'Maximizing' the Easter Basket

and don't forget to download your copy of my Easter Menu Planner e-book

And here are two great recipes to help use up those hard boiled eggs after Easter:

No Mayo Deviled Eggs

Classic Egg Salad

Hope you all have a very blessed Holy Week and Easter Sunday!  Enjoy this video, which I thought was really nice for remembering and honoring Good Friday.

Wordless Wednesday: April 4 2012

You may have seen this done on other blogs you're following.  I've seen a few do it well, and I really like the idea.  It's called "Wordless Wednesdays."  I will post only a picture on Wednesdays, no words from me.  It's a way to share images I feel are meaningful, and allow you to interpret what the picture is saying for yourself.  Feedback is appreciated -- and do let me know if you ever find Wordless Wednesdays 'spammy' or not worth your interest.  But of course, hope you like it!  Let's kick it off right now:

Update #2: We've Got Teeth!

Can you see his pearly whites?

Well, a little extra praising to God is in order, as we made it through the first round of teeth.  Thank you to everyone who wrote in with natural teething relief ideas.  I reallllly really needed to hear your stories of similar situations and the empathy helped me make it through last week.  I liked the creativity in your methods, and definitely learned a few new tricks!

Austin popped out both middle bottom teeth last week after a couple days of misery for all three of us.  I then spent the remainder of last week catching up on backed up laundry, dishes, and other housekeeping.  Finally getting life back into the little routine I had going for us.  Ready to get back to our regular afternoon walks starting tomorrow!  We used to go every afternoon, walking in to Dave's clinic for our adjustments then back home in time to make dinner.  I missed the quiet time in the fresh air.  It's like my anchor every day.  It's some 'me' time even having A with me.  So looking forward to tomorrow's outing!

Out for a walk last month.

If it's a really sunny day, you'll see Austin sporting his shades on our walks.

Oh, and did I mention I started a little garden on our apartment deck?  I'll have to show you what we're up to over here -- my first attempt at anything besides herbs (and usually my herbs die.. I'm not much of a green thumb).  We're using 5 gallon buckets to grow a few different veggies.  So far so good!  More to come on that adventure!  Learning as I go, but so excited to grow our own produce!

Well, a short update is better than nothing.  I wanted to share more, and hope to fill you in on my plan for spring cleaning tomorrow or so (30 Days of Green Spring Cleaning)!  Now, I must crawl into bed.  If I don't sleep while baby sleeps, who knows if I'll ever get any sleep again!

Update & Black Bean Burgers

Fellow moms, it's happening.  Teething!  Ah!  I have been so quiet on the blog because I have been tending to my little dude.  Last week was okay, a little fussiness here and there.  I think I was in denial about what was coming.  Monday thru Friday of this week have been horror days, particularly today.  Austin just turned 6 months, and he's ringing it in with his two bottom teeth.  I feel so bad for him, but I know he has to go through this.  He has been awake since 12midnight when he couldn't stay asleep from the gum pain.  I shouldn't say he's been awake that entire time, he'll get at most 10 minutes in here and there, but snaps back awake when he rests his gums against each other.  I had to email Dave this morning to tell him our son was a sad little mess today and needed some daddy time.  Thankfully, daddy came home and snuggled with Austin for a little while, and finally he and daddy are snoozing in bed going on 30 minutes now.  :)

So far, here is what we are doing for natural teething relief: amber necklace, lots of chilled wash clothes to chew on, chilled spoons, Thieves oil for his gums (1 drop to 10 drops olive oil), Hyland's homeopathic teething tablets, and night time foot rubs with Young Living's Calming oil blend.  It's all been working well so far, but his teeth are really shooting up today.  Any other natural tips out there?  Let me know what worked for your babes!

So while my boys are resting, I wanted to get on here and post a recipe!  I literally have like 30 recipes I need to post.  I just snap pictures at meal time as a memory to post them when I get time.  How do other mom-bloggers do this??  It's amazing to me how life can change so drastically after having a baby, especially following the attachment-parenting lifestyle as we try to.  Six months in and I'm still trying to get the hang of it.  Maybe by 5 years it'll sort itself out....

We like our burgers pretty spicy and with a kick of smokey cumin.  Feel free to adjust the seasonings however you like!  I thought these would also be yummy with a handful of fresh cilantro blended in.

Black Bean Burgers
Makes 8-10

2 cans black beans, drained and rinsed
1 bell pepper, roughly chopped
1 small onion, roughly chopped
4 cloves garlic, smashed (more/less to taste)
2 free range eggs
2 Tbsp chili powder (more/less to taste)
2 Tbsp cumin powder (more/less to taste)
2 tsp hot sauce (more/less to taste)
1 1/2 cups almond flour or meal

1.)  Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.  Lightly grease a large baking sheet with coconut oil.  Set aside.

2.)  In food processor, pulse together the beans, onion, bell pepper, and garlic until almost smooth.  (You want to leave the beans mostly pureed but with a little bit of meatiness left to them.)  Transfer mixture to a large bowl.

3.)  In a small bowl, whisk together the eggs with a fork.  By hand, stir the eggs into the bean mixture.  Add the chili and cumin powders, hot sauce, and almond meal.  [You may need to add a little more almond meal until the mixture turns sticky and holds together well.  If too thick, add a little bit of water, 1 Tbsp at a time, to thin.]

4.)  Divide mixture into 8 equal portions and form into patties.  Place on baking sheet and bake for about 30 minutes, until crunchy on the outside and warmed through the center.  Serve any way you'd like, we love them over salad with tangy chipotle mayonnaise.  (You can grill these for 10 minutes on each side.)

NOVICA Fair Trade Artisan Gifts

Hi guys!  I have a great new find to share with you today, and I also need your help with it!

The website is called NOVICA.  It is one of the leading fair trade artisan websites. They work with National Geographic to give talented artisans from around the world a place to express their artistic talents and provide access to the world market through the Internet.  As NOVICA states in its mission, they want to provide us with an alternative.  And, if I must say, they most certainly do!  They have thousands of jewelry, unique gifts, paintings, and home decor on their website for sale.  What makes NOVICA special is that Artisans from around the world contribute products and receive fair trade wages.  I think it is a fabulous program, and just perfect for finding one-of-a-kind gifts for your loved ones.  At the bottom of each product page, you get to meet the artist who created that piece of jewelry or painting.  You'll feel good about your purchase knowing you are helping to support an artist from another land, like Mexico, India, Africa or the Andes!  It's a wonderful program!

If you browse their website, from first glance you'll see the huge array of beautiful handmade products to choose from.  The website is very easy to use, just pick a category and go!  I think I have been most impressed with the jewelry collection.  I have looked at the Amber Earrings, Jade Jewelry, and Sterling Silver Pendants, and all are stunning!  And then I jumped over to the Unique Gifts section, and wow!  Hand carved sculptures, blown glass vases and glasses, beautiful items!

I need your help!!  I was given at $75 gift certificate to NOVICA and I am overwhelmed with what to choose!  I love the jewelry, I love the blown glass vases and glasses...so many options!  Can you help me?  After looking around, what would you choose?  Comment below or tell me on Facebook which item(s) you would select for yourself or a loved one.  I'll tell you the one I decide from your suggestions, and show you what it looks like when it arrives!  Thanks in advance for the help!

I hope you find NOVICA useful in the future.  Connect with NOVICA on Facebook or Twitter to stay up to date on new arrivals and specials!

Mediterranean Chicken-Quinoa Salad

In case you're not following my adventures and interesting article shares on Facebook, I wanted to let you know what Dave and I are up to for Lent.  We have helped launch a 40 day renewal series at our church focusing on renewing the temple God gave you -- your body!  We're already in to the second week, hard to believe!  That link takes you to the website/blog for the 40 day series, and we're also doing in-depth workshops weekly at church.  I invite you to follow along online and make some commitments and sacrifices for yourself (together with your family) this Lenten season.  By tightening your focus, you will grow closer to Him.

In case you missed it, here is the post where I shared the recipes I made for the kick-off workshop the Sunday before Ash Wednesday.  I threw together a few new recipes for the event, and all are listed in that post, so don't miss out!!!

And I just can't help but share one of those new recipes right here, mostly because I am so so satisfied at how it turned out, but also because I literally threw ingredients into a bowl at 3am, stirred it, put it in the fridge and rolled in to bed.  Didn't even taste test along the way, I was so dang tired.  Well this new on-a-whim salad turned heads and wowed even the kiddos!  Can you say "show stopper!?!"  Lunch, dinner, snack...it's perfect!

Mediterranean Chicken-Quinoa Salad
Makes 4 Servings

1 cup dry quinoa
2 cups sodium-free vegetable stock
3 cups cooked chicken, diced
1/2 cup red onion, diced
3/4 cup cucumber, diced
1/2 cup artichoke hearts, diced
1/4 cup red wine vinegar
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
1/3 cup olive oil
3 garlic cloves, minced
1 Tbsp dried oregano
1/4 cup dried parsley flakes
1 tsp sea salt
1/2 tsp fresh black pepper

1.)  Bring vegetable stock to a boil in a large pot.  Under cold running water, rinse quinoa until water runs clear.  Add to boiling stock.  Lower heat and cover at a simmer.  Let cook for about 20 minutes, or until all liquid is absorbed.

2.)  Remove from heat.  Fluff with a fork.  In a large bowl, add quinoa, chicken, onion, cucumber, and artichoke.  (Is also great with added capers, tomatoes or garbanzo beans.)

3.)  In a small bowl, whisk together vinegar, lemon juice, olive oil, garlic, oregano, parsley, sea salt, and pepper.  Pour over quinoa mixture and toss to coat.  Serve warm or cold.